AJI

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPITRE 1

AJI

Aji was walking in his forever confident steps in the Academy corridors. He quickly strode past the gigantesque doors, and the sublime paintings, not giving them any attentions.
A servent had approached him during his meal, shaking due to having to talk to a member of the royalty, he told him the director had called him.

Despite not being able to finish his relaxing meal time, he was not angry at all. He liked seeing the director and talking to him.

"Enter" The director, a man in his late forties, with whitening hairs and a kind smile, welcomed him with his characteristic soft voice in his office.

Aji immediately noticed the presence of a man seated in a chair in front of the director. The man, despite hearing him enter, didn't even greeted him.

"I'm happy saying you again. Here, you should sit." The director showed him the only empty chair with a leisure movement of the hand. "I'm sorry for taking you precious time, however I had an important matter to discuss. But first, I wanted to congratulate you for your perfect score for these last exams. You once again reached perfection."

The prince, Aji, acknowledged his congratulations by nodding once. If he liked talking to the director, talking in the presence of a stranger wasn't the same. He hadn't expected someone else to be here, so he couldn't prepare himself to talk in his presence. The director didn't take offense in his silence. The old man was accustomed to it.
"I'm sure that you already know him, but this is Tiger." The man called Tiger, was a famous student in the Academy since his arrival. It was only his second trimester here but everyone knew of his incredible smartness and knowledge. He was the only student apart from the prince Aji having scored a perfect score at the exams. One could even say he was better than the illegitimate prince, since he also had a perfect score in magic, something Aji could only dream of.

Tiger, was silently looking at the window. Perfectly frozen and silent, he could confuse him for one of the numerous sculptures in the Academy corridors. His gaze, unyielding in the sudden silence of the office, appeared strong and stubborn. Aji confidently stared at him, even when Tiger's gaze crossed his.

As the prince tried to read the other student's gaze, he could only see ennui and annoyance. He pondered for a moment, trying to understand the stranger in front of him. His thoughts were interrupted by the director explanation of this whole situation.

"I know it's a sudden confession, but you, Aji, are the student I trust the most in the Academy. So you were the only student I could think of when facing an unexpected situation. This night, a part of the dormitory was burned by a student having an outburst of magic. I was able to relocate most of the students, but I lack place for one of the student, Tiger."
Aji nodded gravely, he felt the strong magic waves this night, wondering what was happening, but he didn't expect it to be from a student. The mana he felt was so strong he thought an magic amplification was used. He wondered which student burned the dormitory.

"I see, I was wondering what was happening this night but I have my answer now. Did any of the students were injured by this fire ?" Aji spoke with his deep confident voice, his mask that was momentary shattered by the presence of Tiger was back. He was back to being the strong and confident prince he was. Or rather, back to the figure he should have been.

"Don't worry, the other student sharing a room with the student having the accident quickly handled it. We were luckily that this student had a magic strong enough to stop the spreading fire." The director took a break, visibly pondering if he should continue and ask the question he wanted to ask Aji. After a brief silence, he finally asked the prince. "I contacted you, to ask you a very troublesome service. I know that you have a spare bedroom in your chambers, so could you accept for Tiger to live with you ? Of course it's just for the time needed to repair the burned part of the dormitory. I know that you personally asked to be alone in your chambers, so it's not an obligation for you to accept."